JVW reflect on a phenomenal ELFA season

From our ever impressive Juniors achieving a medal in the cup competition and joining the 100’s club to our seemingly evergreen Vets hijacking the league trophy, this season was truly phenomenal.

Vets: League Winners

With the combined life experience of close on 500 years the only thing we could fault the Vets on this season was not completely synchronising their schedules according to the league.

From their first league game the Vets quickly got their season off to a winning start with a 5-0 win over Benoni Northerns A. This was a great result with the game being only the second time the Vets had played a match together.

From here the team went on to win their next 3 games in convincing fashion even on occasion with a few less than the regular 11 players needed for a full team.

By this stage we could say that the Vets had begun to get into a winning habit, and just in time too. On the 18th of November 2016 the Vets met Luso B in a league match at Hattingh Park. As always it was a juicy prospect to play against a highly competitive team, and like planets aligning the players’ schedules synced allowing the Vets to field their best team. This match had the makings of a cup final, two teams playing a really bone crunching game, leaving heart, soul and a bit of blood and skin on the field too. The game ended 2-2; the team got a point and had kept their unbeaten status intact.

Some would say this was a turning point for the team, once they had an inkling of how good they could be and how far they could go in the season there was no turning back. From here the team continued their winning ways into the Christmas break, again playing some games with a player down, but always using their experience and character to overcome their opposition.

Coming back after the December break there was a lot of talk around our second game of 2017, it was against Setsweke FC, a team known for being ruthless in their taking apart of opposition getting results of 15; 16; 17- 0. Having not seen the team play before, the Vets had little to go on as preparation other than that they knew they had to get to everything first and take any and every opportunity given to score a goal. Again experience proved the winner on the evening with the Vets banging in 4 goals passed Setsweke.

That was when it became clear that the Vets had a real chance at winning the league overall. All they needed was one more result and to remain unbeaten and then the league was theirs. The result needed was a win vs Log leaders, Luso A. Since their inception in 2015 the Vets hadn’t beaten Luso A, so to think of the game lightly was not going to do. Again the vets managed to put out a strong first XI and a humdinger game played out in front of a sizeable crowd. Mums and Dads of the Mums and Career Women, shouting for their daughters, friends and families shouting for their loved ones, the Vets again came out winners with a 3-0 scoreline.Their winning streak had continued and the season was theirs too.

The final days of the season drew to a close with the vets being the only unbeaten team in the League Competition.

The only defeat the Vets saw this season was in the ELFA Cup and to worthy opponents too. The JvW Juniors saw to it that their names would too be in lights this 2016/17 season.

Juniors: Cup Medalists (100’s Club)

With JvW FC being the Country’s premier club for the development of young female players you can only imagine how excited we get with this group of young aspiring female athletes. The potential, the ability, the intensity and the drive that these individuals have, is most inspiring.

They say a woman becomes more beautiful with love. I’d like to build on that and say a woman becomes more beautiful doing what she loves!!

The Juniors grow week to week through the tireless efforts of their technical team, Coach Ange and Lexi (Manager).

Their season much like the Vets’, got off to a flying start with the team picking up points early on in the league and also drawing their match with Luso B.

Although the team came unstuck vs Luso A the next two games saw the Juniors put away 27 goals heading into the December break, What a WOW!

Coming out of the December break the Juniors saw an unfortunate decision go against them leading them to further lose points, but again this didn’t shake them, this time in the three games following that, they scored another 30 goals. The ongoing determination shown by these young ladies have inspired their peers to do better and go further.

With the Highveld rains taking over the natural football schedule all teams in the league saw a few of their games shifted to different dates, this is an obstacle you get used to as an older-more experienced player, however our young Juniors took to the shuffling of games like fish to water. So well in fact that they quite nearly masterminded a toppling of the Vets team with the game playing out to a competitive 2-1.

Little did the Vets know that they would meet the Juniors in the Semi Final of the Cup Competition a month later, and this was it for the Juniors, time to show the league winners what the future looked like. And boy, did they show the Vets. Granted the Vets were a player down due to those aforementioned pesky schedules, but even with a full team I’m not certain the result on the night would have been different. A tactically sound performance with pressing, then dropping, pressing again and switching saw the Vets run ragged in the first 20 mins of the match. The Juniors capitalized on by this scoring 3 quick goals. From there the match was truly theirs and they had the opportunity to take their foot off the gas and work on passing structures.

The juniors went into the Cup Final with their tails up ready for a tough match against a very strong Setsweke team. On the night unfortunately the opposition were just that little bit better and outshone the Juniors in the game. The Juniors walked away winners in terms of the experience gained in playing their first Cup Final as a team, and over all this season they walked away more beautiful, through doing what they love. An excellent example to their peers, with a medal to show.

100’s Club

This is a feat not often achieved by the most experienced teams. As an example in 25years of the modern EPL only three teams have scored 100 or more goals in a league season, those being Chelsea (103) 2009/10; Manchester City (102) 2013/14 and Liverpool (101) 2013/14. So take a bow Juniors, Ange and Lex your 100 goals scored in the league this season ranks in my top team achievements for the last 25 years.